Genco Shipping & Trading Q2 2026 Earnings Report

Genco Shipping & Trading EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.65
• Consensus EPS: $0.60
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$0.05
• One Year Ago EPS: -$0.16

Genco Shipping & Trading Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $136.41 million
• Expected Revenue: $90.59 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$45.82 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +68.50%

Genco Shipping & Trading Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q2 2026
• Date: 8/5/2026
• Time: After Market Closes
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, August 6, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 8:30AM ET

Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) is a leading global owner and operator of drybulk vessels, providing seaborne transportation services for major commodities such as iron ore, coal, grain and fertilizers. The company’s fleet comprises Capesize, Panamax and Supramax vessels, which are chartered to a broad base of international charterers under both spot and period contracts. Genco’s focus on modern, fuel-efficient tonnage supports reliable cargo delivery across a variety of trade routes and market conditions.

In addition to vessel ownership and operation, Genco offers ship management, maintenance and technical support services designed to maximize fleet performance and safety. The company’s commercial division manages voyage planning and charter negotiations, while its technical department oversees crewing, drydocking and regulatory compliance. This integrated approach enables Genco to adapt to changing market dynamics and regulatory environments.

Incorporated in 2004 as a spin-off from Oversea Shipholding Group, Genco Shipping & Trading began trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GNK later that year. Since its inception, the company has expanded its fleet through newbuild orders and selective second‐hand acquisitions, maintaining a focus on operational efficiency and cost management. Genco has also pursued strategic partnerships to strengthen its presence in key shipping markets.

Headquartered in New York City, Genco maintains offices in London and Athens to support its global operations. The company serves customers across Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Africa, leveraging its international network to optimize voyage planning and provide end-to-end logistics solutions. Guided by an experienced management team, Genco continues to pursue disciplined growth and uphold high standards of safety, environmental stewardship and corporate governance.

Genco Shipping & Trading Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results exceeded expectations, with TCE of $24,273 per day, adjusted EBITDA of $56.7 million—up approximately 300% year over year—and adjusted diluted EPS of $0.65.
• Positive Sentiment: Genco declared a quarterly dividend of $0.80 per share, more than double the prior quarter and 433% above the year-ago level; management projects dividends above $1 per share in both Q3 and Q4, with full-year dividends exceeding $3.15 per share.
• Positive Sentiment: The company expects continued financial flexibility after taking delivery of the Genco Volunteer, maintaining approximately 20% pro forma net loan-to-value and roughly $300 million of undrawn revolver capacity to fund fleet renewal or acquisitions.
• Positive Sentiment: Management remains constructive on dry bulk fundamentals, citing strong Chinese iron ore imports, growing Brazilian and West African exports, renewed coal demand, longer trading distances, limited Capesize deliveries, and an aging global fleet.
• Neutral Sentiment: Genco’s board continues reviewing Diana Shipping’s non-binding offer of $24.80 in cash plus one Diana share per Genco share, while its advisors negotiate over valuation, dilution, dividends, governance rights, and the proposed transaction terms.

Presentation

[Operator]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Genco Shipping & Trading Limited second quarter 2026 earnings conference call and presentation. Before we begin, please note that there will be a slide presentation accompanying today's conference call. That presentation can be obtained from Genco's website at www.gencoshipping.com. To inform everyone, today's conference is being recorded and is now being webcast at the company's website, www.gencoshipping.com. We will conduct a question and answer session after the opening remarks. Instructions will follow at that time. A webcast replay will also be available via the link provided in today's press release, as well as on the company website. At this time, I will now turn the conference over to the company. Please go ahead.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Good morning. Before we begin our presentation, I note that in this conference call, we've been making certain forward-looking statements pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements use words such as "anticipate," "budget," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words in terms of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of potential future events, circumstances, or future operating or financial performance. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and observations.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

For a discussion of factors that could cause results to differ, please see the company's press release that was issued yesterday, the materials relating to this call posted on the company's website, and the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, without limitation, the company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2025, and the company's reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K subsequently filed with the SEC. At this time, I would like to introduce John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO of Genco Shipping & Trading Limited.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Good morning, everyone. Welcome to Genco's second quarter 2026 conference call. I will begin today's call by reviewing the progress we've made executing our comprehensive value strategy. Then we will review our Q2 2026 highlights and dividend outlook for the remainder of the year. We will provide additional details on our financial results as well as an update on the industry's current fundamentals before opening the call up for questions. For additional information, please also refer to our earnings presentation posted on the website. Starting on slide five, during the second quarter, we continued to make meaningful progress executing our comprehensive value strategy, which is generating compelling returns for shareholders. Since 2021, we have been executing our well-defined capital allocation strategy and have successfully transformed Genco into a low-leverage, high-dividend company, supported by a fleet of premium-earning assets, industry-low break-even levels, and a leading commercial operating platform.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Today, our shareholders are continuing to see the benefits of our strategy. We have fortified our balance sheet to effectively operate and grow in various rate environments and provide shareholders with consistent and sizable dividends. We have invested $557 million in high-specification modern vessels with a focus on sectors with compelling supply and demand fundamentals and distributed $308 million in dividends to shareholders since 2021. We have also paid down $119 million in debt, significantly reducing our cash flow break-even rate and further enhancing our earnings power and dividend capacity. Moving to slide six, following a strong first quarter, we are pleased to have carried this positive momentum into Q2 2026. During the second quarter, we generated strong cash flow. This was driven by a time charter equivalent rate of over $24,200 per day, our highest quarterly TCE rate since 2022, resulting in adjusted EBITDA of nearly $57 million.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

These strong results exceeded expectations for the quarter as the dry bulk market continued to strengthen and we further capitalized on our growing fleet of premium-earning assets across the main sectors in which we operate. We declared a Q2 dividend of $0.80 per share, more than double our first quarter dividend and 433% higher on a year-over-year basis. Notably, our Q2 dividend is the highest we've declared since the inception of our comprehensive value strategy in 2021. This also marks our 28th consecutive quarterly dividend paid to shareholders, the longest uninterrupted period in our dry bulk peer group. Our strong financial performance reflects the deliberate steps we have taken to increase our earnings power and dividend capacity for the benefit of our shareholders. The second quarter marked the first full quarter in which all of our 2025 vessel acquisitions operated for an entire quarter.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

These well-timed acquisitions, which grew our asset base by approximately 20%, directly and significantly contributed to our strong earnings and dividend during the quarter. Later this month, we are set to further strengthen our fleet as we expect to take delivery of a 2019-built Capesize vessel, the Genco Volunteer. This will bring our total investment in Capesize and Newcastlemax vessels to $408 million since 2023, a period in which these vessel types have vastly outperformed all others in the dry bulk sector. Importantly, we have achieved an IRR of over 30% to date on these acquisitions. As we have done with the other vessels we added to our fleet in 2026, we anticipate trading the Genco Volunteer in the spot market and expect the vessel to earn a significant premium to the Baltic Capesize Index given its high specifications.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

As depicted on slides seven and eight, we achieved multi-year highs for the Q2 dividend, TCE, and EBITDA, and expect to exceed those metrics going into Q3. Including our Q2 dividend of $0.80 per share, we will have paid $8.715 per share in quarterly dividends over the past seven years. With the growth of our premium earning assets, our spot-focused commercial strategy, and our considerable operating leverage in a strengthening dry bulk market, we project a Q3 dividend to achieve another record level. Based on our Q3 fixtures to date of $28,600 per day for 66% of our available days, and assuming the current FFA curve for the balance of the quarter, we project a third quarter dividend of over $1 per share.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

We have strong prospects in Q4 as well, which we project another dividend north of $1 per share based on the FFA curve. This would bring a projected full-year dividend of over $3.15 per share. The foundation of Genco's strong earnings power and dividend capacity, and what we believe drives valuation in public markets, is rooted in strong corporate governance and capital allocation decisions. Our strategy is outlined on the next several slides. Moving to slide nine, Genco continues to maintain industry-leading corporate governance, which has underpinned our shareholder-focused outperformance. We are consistently ranked in the top quartile on corporate governance among public shipping companies, and we are the only U.S.-listed dry bulk shipping company with no related party transactions. Turning to slide 10, Genco has one of the lowest cash flow breakeven levels in our peer group.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

This is directly related to our industry-low net loan-to-value, as well as having no mandatory debt amortization. In addition to significantly increasing our Q2 and Q3 TCE to date on a year-over-year basis, we continue to markedly exceed our low cash flow breakeven rate. Specifically, our Q3 TCE to date of nearly $29,000 per day is approximately $19,000 per day above our breakeven rate prior to maintenance CapEx of approximately $10,000 per day. On slide 11, we highlight the strategic benefits of our balanced fleet composition. Following the expected Cape delivery in August, we will own a fleet of 20 Capesize and Newcastlemax vessels, as well as 24 Ultramax and Supramax vessels. Importantly, we continue to balance the upside potential of the Capesize sector, along with the steadier earnings profile of minor bulk ships. On a vessel ownership basis, our splits are 45% Capes and 55% Ultramax, Supramax.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

However, when viewed on a net revenue basis over the last two years, we are over 50% weighted towards the larger Capesize vessels, putting us in a unique position in our peer group to benefit from the strengthening freight rate environment. On slide 12, we highlight the current operating leverage provided by our pro forma fleet of 44 vessels. Every $1,000 fleet-wide TCE increase equates to $16 million of incremental annualized EBITDA, or $0.36 per share. Every $5,000 increase in TCE for our 20 Newcastlemax and Capesize vessels equates to $36 million, or $0.81 per share of incremental earnings and dividend capacity. Turning to slide 13, we also continue to balance our high operating leverage with our low financial leverage, providing us with flexibility to operate across various freight market conditions. In stronger markets, we generate meaningful cash flow with our industry-low breakeven rate and scalable fleet.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

In market downturns, Genco's low financial leverage and undrawn revolver capacity enable us to pursue counter-cyclical growth opportunities. Importantly, Genco is well-positioned today to drive value for our shareholders and play offense in any type of dry bulk market. I will now turn the call over to Peter Allen, our Chief Financial Officer.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Thank you, John. On slides 15 through 17, we highlight our strong second quarter financial results, which are driven by our sizable operating leverage, growing fleet, and industry-low breakeven levels. For the second quarter, Genco recorded net income of $16.6 million, or $0.38 and $0.37 basic and diluted earnings per share. Adjusted net income is $29.2 million, or $0.67 and $0.65 basic and diluted earnings per share, excluding a gain on sale of vessel of $1.9 million, other operating expenses of $13.1 million, impairment on vessel assets of $1.2 million, and an unrealized fuel loss of $0.2 million. Other operating expenses primarily relate to shareholder and proxy expenses incurred during the quarter, including financial advisory costs associated with inadequacy opinions received for outstanding tender offers at the time.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Such opinions are connected to tender offers and served as important information for both the company to determine that the offers were inadequate and for shareholders in making their own determinations regarding the offers. Adjusted EBITDA for Q2 totaled $56.7 million, an increase of approximately 300% year-over-year. This was led by a time charter equivalent rate of $24,273 per day, which rose by 78% as compared to Q2 2025, while the cost structure was similar on a year-over-year basis, highlighting the operating leverage inherent in our fleet. Our first half of 2026 adjusted EBITDA totaled $92.9 million, which already exceeds the full year 2025 level and is on pace to be our highest earnings year since the 2021-2022 period. We continue to generate meaningful cash flow and maintain significant financial flexibility. Our cash and debt positions as of June 30th, 2026 were $74 million and $330 million respectively.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Our undrawn revolver availability at quarter end was $350 million. For the Genco Volunteer, the 2019-built Capesize vessel we expect to be delivered in August, we paid an installment of $6.5 million in Q2, and we have $58.5 million of CapEx remaining for this acquisition to be paid in Q3. We drew down $50 million in July to partially fund this acquisition, with the remaining CapEx to be funded with cash from the balance sheet. With our full revolving credit facility structure, we plan to continue actively managing our cash and debt positions to reduce interest expense while maintaining access to capital to act on growth opportunities as we have demonstrated in recent years.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

We view our strong balance sheet as a core component of our comprehensive value strategy and a strategic asset that enables us to act quickly and decisively as we have demonstrated in recent years with our creative growth initiatives. As outlined on slide 18, we believe Genco is in an advantageous position. A fleet of 43 high-quality, modern dry bulk vessels are significant operating leverage combined with low financial leverage, a $10,000 cash flow break-even rate, and $350 million of undrawn revolver availability collectively provide an attractive risk-reward balance for shareholders. Furthermore, we continue to provide shareholders with compelling quarterly dividends. Our established and transparent dividend policy targets a distribution based on 100% of operating cash flow, less a voluntary reserve, as described on slide 19.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

In the second quarter, our board declared a dividend of $0.80 per share based on operating cash flow of $55 million and a voluntary quarterly reserve of $19.5 million. Operating cash flow in Q2 increased by 55% relative to the prior quarter, which flowed through the dividend, which more than doubled. The second quarter dividend represents an annualized dividend yield of approximately 12% based on the current stock price. Consistent with previous quarters, other operating expenses are not included in the dividend calculation, which is in line with the methodology used in the previous four quarters in which these extraordinary expenses have been incurred. Q2 also marked the first full quarter in which our 2025 acquisitions were integrated into our fleet.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

These acquisitions alone had a quarterly dividend impact of approximately $0.15 per share in Q2 2026, or nearly 20% of the $0.80 dividend, underscoring how accretive these acquisitions have been. These acquisitions were fully funded with our existing liquidity, highlighting the benefit of our strong balance sheet. As a result, each Genco share immediately received this uplift in earnings, making these transactions highly accretive to cash flows, dividends, and overall shareholder value. Looking ahead to Q3 2026, we currently have 66% of owned available days fixed at approximately $28,600 per day as compared to our anticipated cash over break-even rate, excluding dry docking-related CapEx, of approximately $10,000 per vessel per day. Importantly, Q3 2026 TCE is on pace to increase by nearly 80% year-over-year and our highest level since Q2 2022.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

As a result, we expect a significantly higher dividend in Q3 2026 as compared to both Q2 2026 and Q3 2025. I will now turn the call over to Michael Orr, our dry bulk market analyst, to discuss the industry's current landscape.

[Michael Orr, VP of Finance at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Thank you, Peter. Beginning on slide 21, during the second quarter of 2026, freight rates continued to rise following a strong Q1. Specifically, the Baltic Capesize Index averaged over $36,000 per day in Q2, the highest quarterly level since 2021, while the Baltic Supramax Index averaged over $17,000 per day, the highest mark since 2022. In Q3 to date, rates continued to be firm with the forward freight curve pointing to levels in excess of $35,000 and $18,000 per day across the Capesize and Supramax sectors respectively. We believe the strong dry bulk earnings environment is due to a continued solid iron ore trade, significant growth in bauxite exports, and a re-emergence of the coal trade. These demand-side catalysts have extended trading distances, accentuating the existing capacity constraints of the dry bulk fleet.

[Michael Orr, VP of Finance at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Turning to slide 22, China continues to import large volumes of iron ore led by abundant seaborne supplies from Brazil and Australia. Specifically, China's iron ore imports in the first half of 2026 increased by 6% on a year-over-year basis, while Brazilian exports were up by 2% over this period. Importantly, in June, we saw record Chinese iron ore imports of 113 million tons, as well as all-time high Brazilian shipments of 42 million tons, which were increases of 8% and 18% year-over-year respectively. Historically, Brazilian exports are approximately 20% higher in the second half as compared to the first half of the year. The Atlantic Basin for Capesize vessels has also been met with rapidly growing exports of bauxite from West Africa, as highlighted on slides 23 and 24.

[Michael Orr, VP of Finance at Genco Shipping & Trading]

This trade has been supportive of the Capesize vessels in recent months, given the ton-mile intensity of the trade route. Simandou iron ore exports have steadily grown since the first shipments in Q4, exceeding 2 million tons in May, with full-year volumes expected to be weighted towards the second half of the year following the rainy season. Going forward, given the scale of the expected growth projects from Simandou on the iron ore side, as well as continued iron ore growth from Vale in Brazil and bauxite out of West Africa, these incremental volumes could absorb potentially over 200 Capesize vessels. Supply constraints and the new building activity combined with added long-haul trading distances are two key catalysts for the sector. As detailed on slide 25, with the escalation of geopolitical tensions in recent months, the key theme of energy security has once again risen to the forefront.

[Michael Orr, VP of Finance at Genco Shipping & Trading]

For dry bulk specifically, that translates to augmented demand for coal as a potential replacement for other sources of energy that have either experienced disruptions or rising prices. Notably, we have seen an increase in coal cargoes originating from the U.S. and Colombia with Asian destinations. These long-haul trade routes once again further stretch the dry bulk fleet. Additionally, a high probability of an El Niño weather event could lead to low water levels in the Panama Canal, resulting in reduced transits, further increasing fleet inefficiencies. On slide 27, we highlight the global grain trade. China has increased its purchases of U.S. soybeans, with year-to-date imports from the U.S. already exceeding all of last year.

[Michael Orr, VP of Finance at Genco Shipping & Trading]

In terms of newbuilding deliveries in the year to date, as outlined on slide 28, net fleet growth in the first half of 2026 was 3.9%, split between 1% net fleet growth for Capesizes and 4%-6% net fleet growth from Panamaxes down to Handysize. Specifically, we have only seen 21 Capes delivered to the global fleet so far this year, which represents a reduction of 75% as compared to the 15-year average, highlighting the impact of the low order book coming to fruition in 2026, which is a key pillar of the Capesize and dry bulk thesis. Additionally, as scrapping has remained low in recent years, the age of the global fleet has risen to 13 years old, the highest average age of the global dry bulk fleet since 2010.

[Michael Orr, VP of Finance at Genco Shipping & Trading]

This has increased the pool of potential scrapping candidates, as 12% of the on-the-water fleet is 20 years or older, which is nearly identical to the global dry bulk order book as a percentage of the fleet of 14%. This implies net replacement of tonnage over time as opposed to any material net fleet growth. While we expect volatility in the freight rate market to persist, the foundation of a low supply growth picture provides a solid basis for our positive view of the dry bulk market going forward. I will now turn the call back over to John to conclude the call.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Thank you, Michael. Turning to Slide 30, the second quarter marked another period of disciplined execution of our comprehensive value strategy, resulting in strong financial results as we generated EBITDA for the first half of the year that exceeded total EBITDA for all of 2025 and increased our Q2 dividend by over 400%. To a value strategy, high level. We are continuing to realize the significant benefits of our sizable operating leverage, strong balance sheet, and industry-low break-even levels that have enabled Genco to increase its earnings power and dividend capacity. We are operating in a strong rate environment, and asset values have continued to increase, which together with strong cash flow generation, has contributed to Genco's increasing net asset value. As we look ahead, Genco is well-positioned to continue driving returns through sizable dividends and creating value for shareholders.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Before we turn the call over to Q&A, I'd like to provide a brief update on the latest proposal we received from Diana Shipping. The board is continuing to review Diana's non-binding indicative proposal to acquire all remaining outstanding shares of Genco's common stock in exchange for $24.80 per share in cash, plus one share of Diana common stock per Genco share. As part of that review, our advisors have engaged with Diana's advisors to discuss their proposal, including its price, structure, and terms. Genco's board has authorized its financial advisors to continue discussions with Diana's financial advisors with the goal of determining whether a transaction that fully and fairly compensates Genco shareholders is achievable.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

The board has directed its advisors to engage on several key topics, including Genco's current NAV, an appropriate control premium to NAV that reflects the value of Genco's sizable and industry-leading platform in a rising market, how to protect Genco shareholders from significant potential dilution associated with Diana's proposed issuance of new stock as part of the contemplated transaction, and the limited rights granted to Diana shareholders under its existing governing documents, along with Diana's pre-agreed sale of Genco vessels to Star Bulk at a large discount to current market value. Also, the treatment of Genco's Q2 dividend of $0.80 per share and future dividends as the cash component of Diana's offer is to be reduced by dividends declared. Said differently, Diana's offer is decreasing while Genco's NAV in the dry bulk market is rising.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

How to fairly reflect Genco's strong cash flow generation, in which dividends to shareholders are projected to be over $1 per share in both Q3 and Q4 of 2026. Our board is committed to maximizing shareholder value and will continue to act in the best interests of all Genco shareholders. We will provide a further update on our review of the proposal in due course. Please note that the purpose of today's call is to discuss our second quarter results and opportunities ahead in a strengthening dry bulk market. We ask that you please keep your questions focused on our results, performance, and industry trends. Thank you in advance, and this concludes our presentation. We'd be happy to take your questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now conduct the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star one again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Omar Nokta with Clarksons. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Omar Nokta, Analyst at Clarksons Securities]

Thank you. Morning, John, Peter, Michael.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Morning, Omar.

[Omar Nokta, Analyst at Clarksons Securities]

Morning, John. Well, looks like business is looking good. You declared your biggest dividend so far under your comprehensive value strategy. Next one's looking bigger, and perhaps the one after that, too. I guess, appreciate your comments that you just made on Diana, but just wanted to ask, in terms of managing the business, how has it been here recently? Has that process that you've been dealing with, or at least your advisors and the board, has that affected business at Genco or strategy to any extent?

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Look, I think it's obviously one more thing that has been added to our list. We have a very well-thought-out comprehensive value strategy, as you just said, with low leverage, high dividends, and end growth opportunities. That is in place. Again, it was a strategy that the board put in place several years ago, at this point. It's been working well. We're continuing to follow that strategy. Strong governance and capital allocation are the two main components that we believe creates real value for shipping companies in the public market. We're very focused on those two aspects as well. We did grow our fleet by 20% on an asset value basis in 2025, acquisitions are still very much on the table. We still have the Genco Volunteer that we're taking delivery of, I believe, next week.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

The investments that we've, so far, since 2023 on the Capesize side, over 30% IRR. The company is running on all cylinders, irrespective of the proxy issues that are now behind us and concluded for the time being. We're going to continue to look at growth opportunities. We're going to continue to run under the value strategy and return cash to shareholders in the form of dividends.

[Omar Nokta, Analyst at Clarksons Securities]

Thanks, John. Yeah, maybe just as a follow-up on that point, just kind of talking about the fleet. As you mentioned, you've got the Volunteer coming in perhaps next week, and you've got those two Newcastlemaxes from earlier this year that were well-timed. Looks like you'll be at basically a fleet split of 20 Capes, 24 Ultra Supras. How do you see that-.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Yeah.

[Omar Nokta, Analyst at Clarksons Securities]

Balance in general?

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Yep.

[Omar Nokta, Analyst at Clarksons Securities]

Does the secondhand market, as you mentioned, they're going up in terms of values and your NAV is rising with that. Is it still compelling to look at the secondhand market? What are your thoughts just on, say, new buildings in general?

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Okay. In the secondhand market, yes, values continue to firm. Freight rates also have moved back up and started to recover from the early part of the year, which has all been positive. We are still in a mode of fleet renewal. Even if we were buying assets at higher numbers, we're also selling our older assets at higher numbers. Again, we want to continue fleet renewal. We're going to do that. We'll have to see on large-scale growth how we accomplish that. It is nice that our shares are trading fairly well. At some point, if there is an attractive transaction, there's the possibility of using shares as currency along with cash. On the new building side, I wouldn't say we're full scale against them, but it's not something that we typically focus on.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

The reason is because you're really talking about 2029 delivery dates at this point in the dry bulk sector. You have money that is what I'll call dead money. It's money out the door, but it's not earning anything, which we don't believe works well for public companies. Probably more importantly, when we're buying assets, we like to be able to de-risk them on the front end. We like to get the cash flows as soon as possible. I think you'll see us focused mostly on the secondhand market rather than looking at new builds at this point.

[Omar Nokta, Analyst at Clarksons Securities]

Okay. Thank you, John. That's clear. I'll pass it back to you.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Thank you, Omar.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Liam Burke with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Liam Burke, Managing Director at B. Riley Securities]

Thank you. Good morning, John, Peter, Michael.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Good morning.

[Liam Burke, Managing Director at B. Riley Securities]

Peter, you're taking delivery of that Capesize. John and Omar went over the puts and takes of the potential adding of assets. You'll add about additional debt when you take delivery of that Cape, but how are you going to manage your debt balance, which is fine as it is, as well as potential asset acquisitions plus your dividend strategy?

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Pete, do you want to-?

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Sure.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Address that?

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Sure, yeah. I'll take that. Thanks for the question, Liam. Yeah, in terms of our overall debt balance, we ended the quarter with $330 million of debt outstanding, and in July, we drew down $50 million to partially fund the balance of the acquisition that John said we'll be getting shortly here in the month of August.

[Peter Allen, CFO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Overall, on a pro forma basis, we're still around a 20% net loan-to-value, and we'll still have about $300 million of undrawn revolver availability. A lot of flexibility to continue to grow on an accretive basis as we've shown over the last several years under the value strategy. Like John said, there's opportunities for fleet renewal, and we'll continue to assess various growth opportunities. The great thing about the revolver is that as we build cash, if there aren't immediate needs for acquisition CapEx, we can pay down the revolver and save interest expense and all of that savings flows right into the dividend. A lot of flexibility both to play offense, as John said in the prepared remarks, in all types of earnings environments.

[Liam Burke, Managing Director at B. Riley Securities]

Great. Thank you, Peter. Michael, you talked about iron ore demand in China being so strong, and I get it. You can't argue with the numbers, steel production generally, not only in China but worldwide, is sort of down single digits. What's creating this demand for the iron ore?

[Michael Orr, VP of Finance at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Thank you, Liam. It has not been the traditional construction demand that we've seen in past years. It is a lot of secondary markets such as infrastructure and manufacturing, particularly solar panels as well as electric vehicles, that has seen an uptick in demand for this iron ore.

[Liam Burke, Managing Director at B. Riley Securities]

Great.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Just to build on that a little bit here, Liam is, we've seen record amounts of iron ore being exported out of Brazil, over 42 million tons in the month of June. Typically, those shipments are weighted towards the second half of the year, we've also seen a record amount of imports into China in the month of June. Still strong commodity demand. When you add that on top of the bauxite trade as well as continued coal demand from an energy security perspective, you have the three main commodities from a major bulk perspective, really working at the same time here. A lot of positives, longer ton-miles, longer trading distances, and that accentuates the capacity constraints with the limited net fleet growth.

[Liam Burke, Managing Director at B. Riley Securities]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

Your next question comes from the line of Chris Robertson with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

[Chris Robertson, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Thank you, operator. Good morning, Peter and John. How are you guys?

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Good. How are you, Chris?

[Chris Robertson, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Good, thank you. Just wanted to kind of follow up here on Liam's line of questions related to iron ore, and especially how it relates to trade patterns through the Panama Canal, and you guys have a nice slide laying out the potential impact here from El Niño. Just wanted to check in on the current status of the wait times at the Panama Canal, if the fees have gone up there, and has that caused any rerouting generally, not only for your fleet, but others in the dry bulk fleet rerouting just pushing more vessels around Cape of Good Hope rather than going through the canal?

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

There's a few things going on. We obviously have the El Niño, and a high probability of it. I think it's 80% in Q4 and all the way up to 97% in the first half of 2027. We could easily have a situation like what we saw in 2023. They have cut booking capacity down from 36 to 34, effective the end of July. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it is early to be doing that. If you remember, I think that number went down to 22 transits in 2023. We could easily be looking at that situation, which will create more inefficiencies in the dry bulk market, particularly as we get into the fourth quarter when we're into grain season and U.S. agriculture exports ramp up. Stay tuned on how that plays out.

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

The other thing that's been going on is obviously because of Hormuz, there's been a lot of tankers and gas that have been going through the canal. I think the sheer number of vessels that have canal demand use has also gone up.

[Chris Robertson, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Yeah, that makes sense. John, if you could further elaborate when it comes to the number of transits per day, how does that wait time look in terms of people bidding for priority slots? I guess, is it kind of a two-lane traffic there? What are the logistics around that?

[John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO at Genco Shipping & Trading]

Well, everybody for the most part is securing slots ahead of time. There's no transit that they're allowing to occur without a booked slot. We've definitely seen auction prices go up again. It's volatile. There's been a range of a $0.5 million to $1.5 million. I think there was even one as high as $2.9 million this week. It's a little bit all over the place, but we expect that auction system to remain, and those numbers will probably go up as you get into the end of this year and early next year if El Niño does what everyone thinks it's going to do.

[Chris Robertson, Analyst at Deutsche Bank]

Thank you very much. Very helpful call there. I'll turn it over.

[Operator]

This concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.

Participants

Executives

• Peter Allen, CFO
• John Wobensmith, Chairman and CEO
• Michael Orr, VP of Finance

Analysts

• Omar Nokta, Analyst at Clarksons Securities
• Liam Burke, Managing Director at B. Riley Securities
• Chris Robertson, Analyst at Deutsche Bank